UCL: Business As Usual As Paris Saint-Germain Get Going

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 12: Edinson Cavani of PSG celebrates scoring his sides third goal with Neymar of PSG during the UEFA Champions League Group B match between Celtic and Paris Saint Germain at Celtic Park on September 12, 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

The best team in French club football and its very rich lineup full of big money and big dreams (living up to its slogan of “Dream Bigger”) flexed its muscles ahead of a massive crunch-time test match with Bayern Munich in the heart of Scotland. Donning its fashionable, sleek and 100% Parisianly sexy black third kits, Paris Saint-Germain routed Celtic 5-0 before a bumper crowd at Celtic Park. And those Hoops fans in green hoping for a miracle result or a surprise upset were in for a predictable disappointment amidst the pouring rain.

5 – Celtic have suffered tonight their heaviest deafeat at home in European competition (0-5). Debacle. pic.twitter.com/k2VYeFbCrP

It took all of 19 minutes, but after Edinson Cavani was denied for offsides, Neymar Santos Jr. opened up PSG’s campaign to put Unai Emery’s club ahead 1-0 at Paradise in Glasgow. To be honest, Paris Saint-Germain’s tendencies to hold possession but not convert in spades carried over on Tuesday and that opened up the counter, giving the Bhoys of Brendan Rogers’s Celtic Football Club a decent share of chances.

The kid, Kylian Mbappe, also got in on the feast in the 34th minute and Cavani finally got on the scoresheet on a 40th minute penalty. Meanwhile, the second half saw Paris switch to a game-management scenario, containing sequences while allowing the opportunity to strike for more goals on their end to confirm the expected result for the visitors.

With Olympique Lyonnais at the Parc des Princes up next in Ligue 1 play, resting some big names would be a priority later in the match. Neymar almost converted 70 minutes in for his brace off a Julian Draxler delivery and if that and a chance in the 75th minute via Mbappe was converted, the Brazilian would have had a hat trick, a 5-0 lead and a trio of mass substitutions at that point. Eventually, Paris Saint-Germain did reach 5-0 on a Mikael Lustig own goal in the 83rd minute and Cavani’s second in the 85th minute for a brace to El Matador.

The result comes on the heels of a similar, if closer, performance from the Under-19 team who took down Celtic 3-2. Turkish international Metehan Guclu (38′), Virgiliu Postolachi (60′) and Timothy Weah (66′), George Weah’s son, converted for the Parisians. Regan Hendry (13′) and Jack Aitchison (55′) scored for Celtic.

Following Paris Saint-Germain’s match with Lyon, the Parisians will look to get some more payback against Montpellier HSC on the road on Sept. 23. That match with MHSC will be another key warmup match for Bayern on Sept. 27 at Le Parc. Bayern’s match against Anderlecht was more modest: they only recorded a 3-0 victory at the Allianz Arena.

Jo-Ryan Salazar is a writer for The Stoppage Time, a soccer blog powered by Azteca Soccer. A supporter of the Los Angeles Galaxy since 1996 and a committed supporter since 2002, Jo-Ryan also follows Chelsea FC, Melbourne Victory, FC Tokyo and Paris Saint-Germain. Apart from soccer, Jo-Ryan is an administrative assistant for a local nonprofit in Long Beach, California and also does photography, photo-editing and fictional writing.